mack/misophist - 07 Feb 07 - 12:05 AM

"To the best of my knowlege, no army has ever been particularly good at dealing with guerillas."

The British, Australian and Malay armed forces in Malaysia and in Borneo

"Afghanistan might have worked if we'd kept at it but the shrub pulled troops out to send them to Iraq."

How many troops did "shrub" pull out?

"You may agrue that the conventions don't work but an attempt at civilized war is better than no effort at all."

Not wishing to point out the obvious but there is no such thing as a "civilised war", if you are fighting a war you fight to win it, and do whatever is required to win it. If you are not prepared to do that, do everybody a favour and seek terms from your enemy immediately. In the case of the present situation, I believe that OBL & Co require you to convert to Islam, follow Sharia Law and abandon your allies. You never know you could see the likes of Hilary Clinton And Nancy Pelosi in veils or Burkha's yet.